Can't reconfigure the Host-Only Adapter when required.

[whistlepig]

Here is my situation. I have between 1 and three VirtualBox instances on my computer, each requires a different Host-Only configuration. I need to be able to reconfigure the adapter right before the instance is started depending on the instance to be started. There is only one instance running at a time. I use the VBoxManage command line to do this:

VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "vmName" --ip 172.16.60.140 --netmask 255.255.255.0

If for some reason I can't configure it, I will delete it, then create it again, then attempt to configure it again. Despite all this there are many times when I just can't reconfigure the Host-Only adapter. At which time I have to reinstall the VirtualBox.

All the VirtualBox instances are configured to have only one adapter, a Host-Only Adapter with the name: VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter. I have tried using different Host-Only adapter for each VirtualBox instance, but you can't control the name or number of the adapter. So this is not an option.

I am using Virtual Box 4.1.12
I have read all the documentation on this subject.
I have read many posts that had similar problems, but their solution was not helpful.
One yesterday suggested disabling the "Network Activity Hook Server Lightweight Filter Driver". I didn't have that option in the properties panel.
Another could reconfigure only if the subnet was 255.255.0.0..............This didn't seem to have an effect on my situation.


Why can't I reconfigure the Host-Only adapter multiple times.
Appreciate any help you can give me

[noteirak]

I have tried using different Host-Only adapter for each VirtualBox instance, but you can't control the name or number of the adapter. So this is not an option.

Why don't you create 3 Host-Only adapter permanently and assign a particular one to each guest? Was there some kind of error?
What you are trying to do is not the intended use, so as the fact it's breaking is not as important than why you are trying to do it this way...

[whistlepig]

Thanks for your reply.
I don't know how the Host-Only adapter was meant to be used. The documentation doesn't explain this. What locks the settings? At some point they are configurable. I guess that is what I am trying to figure out. If a registered vm is using the Host-Only adapter, does that lock the settings? If the vm is unregistered, will that free the adapter to be configured? Can you only configure an adapter once?
My use of the Virtual Box and Host-Only adapters has evolved and using three permanent adapters is not possible at this point. Going forward I need to determine what is possible.

[BillG]

On a Windows host you can use a Microsoft Loopback Adapter instead of a host only adapter. It will still show up in VirtualBox as a host interface which you can connect to. It does not have the built-in DHCP action of host only so you need to configure it manually. I have never tried creating more than one so I can't comment on whether you can have different names.

This assumes that you know how these interfaces work and you know how to configure two machines in an IP subnet.

I do not really understand why you want to connect each vm to a different interface on the host.

[noteirak]

I don't know how the Host-Only adapter was meant to be used. The documentation doesn't explain this.

It does. It is for a guest that require communication with the host-only.

What locks the settings? At some point they are configurable. I guess that is what I am trying to figure out.

Nothing locks the settings, but I am afraid that since you keep removing and adding interfaces, Windows is loosing it... But without the exact error, no way to tell

If a registered vm is using the Host-Only adapter, does that lock the settings? If the vm is unregistered, will that free the adapter to be configured? Can you only configure an adapter once?

The adapter is never "locked", you can reconfigure it as many time as you want regardless of the amount of VM using it.

My use of the Virtual Box and Host-Only adapters has evolved and using three permanent adapters is not possible at this point.

If you could develop on this - why is it not possible? How was the situation before and how is it now? What changed?

Going forward I need to determine what is possible.

I think the best would be to tell us what is your goal, and not how you think to go there. If you tell us what you are trying to achieve, we can tell you what is the best way of doing so.

[whistlepig]

I created 3 VMs so that sales people in our company can learn our products (products are simulated in VM). The VM is launched with a C# wrapper in headless mode and is accessed via a web browser (xulrunner). I created three of these. Each VM was created in a different environment (i.e. with different static IP address). I didn't expect that users would try to install more than one on their laptop, but this seems to be the case. Everything associated with the VirtualBox is done via C# in a spawned process. There are no error messages (even though I check for errors when the process finishes). The only error message I get is the one that I create if the adapter is not configured properly. All I know is that I cannot go from one configuration to another. Going forward I am planning to make only one adapter, and I plan to change all the VMs static IPs to conform to this one adapter. But for now I have three VMs with three different network configurations. I need to try to make them work. The more information I can get about how the Host-Only adapter works will help me to properly configure the adapters. Or at least know what they can't do.

I've looked at the log files in the .VirtualBox folder. They do show some errors, but they don't show any of the command line info for vBoxManage. Is there a way to turn on a debug verbose mode?

Thanks

[noteirak]

First you mention that you use the command line, but then you talk about some custom C# code to spawn the processes and run the command.
If you are running the commands from your C# code, you will have to run the command from a regular command prompt and reproduce the exact same scenario and see if the bug appear as well.
Unless you can reproduce the issue with the standard tools, there is no need to go further in the investigation.
If you can post the lines you would include in a .cmd that simulates the action of your C# code with the correct timing and pauses, we could give it a try to see if we can reproduce the bug.

[whistlepig]

Ok. I think I have figured out a couple of my problems ( I thought I did anyway).
1. This I figured out after looking at the log files in folder .VirtualBox. There was a error message about not finding sun_vboxnetflt component. I do a custom install and I think I was missing some critical components. So I reinstalled the Virtual Box with all the components. This however didn't solve all my problems.
2. Here are a number of the command lines I use to configure the adapter from my c# code (not in the order below):

Code: Select all

VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.17.101.144 --netmask 255.255.0.0
VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
VBoxManage hostonlyif remove "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"
VBoxManage hostonlyif create ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.17.101.146 --netmask 255.255.255.0
VBoxManage hostonlyif create

From the command prompt, I thought I had figured out how to consistently get the commands to fail to configure, but no such luck. They fail intermittently and I can't figure out what the pattern is. Below shows a series of commands that caused it to fail to configure. But if I followed those same commands again, it wouldn't fail.

Is there any command that will log all this information to a log file Or is there a file that shows adapter configuration failures?

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif remove "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif create
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter' was successfully created

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            4f3bf1b3-53e0-4e73-a07a-eb38bf42c560
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       192.168.221.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:c054:468b:7ecf:1c95
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:84:44
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.17.101.143 --netmask 255.255.0.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            4f3bf1b3-53e0-4e73-a07a-eb38bf42c560
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       0.0.0.0
NetworkMask:     15.0.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:c054:468b:7ecf:1c95
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:84:44
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif remove "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif create
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter' was successfully created

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            84470429-8a2a-4c60-8898-26ade5b9c3e9
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       192.168.157.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:c84f:f3c9:5716:d11c
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:6c:bd
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.17.101.143 --netmask 255.255.0.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            84470429-8a2a-4c60-8898-26ade5b9c3e9
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       169.254.209.28
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:c84f:f3c9:5716:d11c
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:6c:bd
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to the posting.
Thanks

[noteirak]

I've tried your commands, and there are indeed issues.
So I did this first:

Code: Select all

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>Vboxmanage hostonlyif remove "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif create
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter' was successfully created

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            a5f0012b-7729-4d31-8d4a-744f67e13797
DHCP:            Disabled
IPAddress:       192.168.123.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:dc5b:cdf6:ea70:c8a2
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:94:7b
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter" --ip 172.17.101.143 --netmask 255.255.0.0

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
VBoxManage.exe: error: Failed to create the VirtualBox object!
VBoxManage.exe: error: Code CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE (0x80080005) - Server execution failed (extended info not available)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Most likely, the VirtualBox COM server is not running or failed to start.

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration
--snip--
Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::dc5b:cdf6:ea70:c8a2%25
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.17.101.143
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
--snip--

So Vboxmanage fails to see the change and report them properly, but the IP is set properly.

Carrying on with your commands :

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter" --ip 172.17.101.143 --netmask 255.255.0.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif remove "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif create
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter' was successfully created

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            58abe14a-3f99-40cf-9cdb-c1cb61be1373
DHCP:            Disabled
IPAddress:       192.168.74.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:34a4:84d0:99c9:97fa
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:a0:1d
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter" --ip 172.17.101.143 --netmask 255.255.0.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            58abe14a-3f99-40cf-9cdb-c1cb61be1373
DHCP:            Disabled
IPAddress:       172.17.101.143
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:34a4:84d0:99c9:97fa
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:a0:1d
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter

All good

I have repeated this several times and I indeed get the CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE (0x80080005) error code randomly at any command.

So on my part, I see three issues :
1. There is a reproducible bug and should be addressed as such in the BugTracker which I will take care of
2. Your code does not handle errors and failure returns. It definitly should!
3. You shouldn't use your code to find errors, first try in command line directly.

Edit : BugTracker ticket #11496

[whistlepig]

Well, I am glad you saw some errors, but I have never seen the error you encountered. I have never not been able to create a Host-Only adapter. And I have never gotten returned error messages. They always say everything is great until you query the list and it shows that it was not configured. So I always check the list and its configuration.

In my code I check for returned error messages. From both the command prompt and from my C# code, the consistently inconsistent error I get is an inability to configure the adapter. The error I displayed above was from the command prompt window.

Again, thanks for your input. I will continue to try to reproduce the error I described above.

[noteirak]

Then you basically get a more "advanced" bug than I do
Simply gather data about your version of this bug and add to the ticket, that would be best so the devs can pin-point it better.

[whistlepig]

At this point I think there was two reasons why I have had problems with the Host-Only adapter.
1. My installation was not correctly configured. All the relevant network components were not being installed. I used an unattended install:
VirtualBox-4.1.12-r77245-MultiArch_amd64.msi /passive TRANSFORMS=NoShortcuts64.mst ADDLOCAL=VBoxApplication,VBoxNetworkAdp
The transform was to stop the install from putting shortcuts on the desktop. The ADDLOCAL didn't seem to be working. I took out the ADDLOCAL and modified the transform to limit the installation to just the network components.
2. My C# code that was spawning a process to create and configure the Host-Only adapter using VBoxManage, was not allowing the process to complete before starting the next step. I think it was a timing issue.
These conclusions are tentative.
Appreciate the help from the forum.

[whistlepig]

I corrected the problems above and I still have had a problem configuring the Host-Only adapter. Below are a series of commands I gave at the command line. Initially I could not configure the Host-Only adapter, but if I changed first the IP address, then changed the mask incrementally I could change the configuration. This seems so bazaar. I really wish there was some log indicating what is going on.

Code: Select all

C:\Windows\system32>cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            471a1d78-c37a-45ea-b85a-319fa24a3de3
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       169.254.199.29
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:41ee:f83a:ff8e:c71d
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:ec:1f
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Ho
st-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.16.60.140 --netmask 255.255.255.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            471a1d78-c37a-45ea-b85a-319fa24a3de3
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       169.254.199.29
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:41ee:f83a:ff8e:c71d
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:ec:1f
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Ho
st-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.16.60.140 --netmask 255.255.0.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            471a1d78-c37a-45ea-b85a-319fa24a3de3
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       172.16.60.140
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:41ee:f83a:ff8e:c71d
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:ec:1f
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Ho
st-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.16.60.140 --netmask 255.255.255.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            471a1d78-c37a-45ea-b85a-319fa24a3de3
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       172.16.60.140
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:41ee:f83a:ff8e:c71d
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:ec:1f
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Ho
st-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.16.60.140 --netmask 255.255.254.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            471a1d78-c37a-45ea-b85a-319fa24a3de3
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       172.16.60.140
NetworkMask:     255.255.254.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:41ee:f83a:ff8e:c71d
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:ec:1f
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter


C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig "VirtualBox Ho
st-Only Ethernet Adapter"  --ip 172.16.60.140 --netmask 255.255.255.0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list -l hostonlyifs
Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            471a1d78-c37a-45ea-b85a-319fa24a3de3
Dhcp:            Disabled
IPAddress:       172.16.60.140
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:41ee:f83a:ff8e:c71d
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 08:00:27:00:ec:1f
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter

Is there anyone else out there that is having the same problems?
Also I am wondering if this is related to the problems others have had with the Host-Only adapter being identified as a "unidentified network".

[VBFixer]

Hi There,

I know this post is old, but seeing as I just read this post (and many like it) because I had the same problem, I'm hoping someone else might find this post and the workaround I found useful.

This is related to bug VB #8796. My workaround can be found in comment #20.

But the gist of it is, try this:

1) Open windows command prompt as admin
2) Enter the command:

Code: Select all

netsh interface ip set address name="VirtualBox Host-Only Network" static 192.168.56.1 255.255.255.0

Note: Obviously, you need to change the IP & subnet mask to what you want, but you might also need to change the "name" parameter to match whatever is listed in "View Network Connections". Since there are two identifiers listed there, the one you need for this command is the top identifier (the one that is user modifiable). Other Windows commands use the other identifier, so this may be confusing since the default names are similar ("VirtualBox Host-Only Network" vs "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"). I also believe it is case sensitive.

3) Verify change with the command:

Code: Select all

netsh interface ip show addresses

When I ran VB, the manually entered settings now appeared in the VB GUI under Preferences->Network->Host-Only. Issuing the following the command also confirmed that DHCP was disabled now (which is what I needed, but you can modify the commands as appropriate).

Code: Select all

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe list hostonlyifs

Name:            VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
GUID:            947c0311-30ce-4761-819c-959280a2518c
DHCP:            Disabled
IPAddress:       192.168.56.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:9c26:7468:8103:8d22
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64
HardwareAddress: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter

I tried everything suggested and nothing else worked. I removed and reinstalled the host-only adapter using the VB GUI, the VBoxManage command line, and no joy. I tried adding multiple host-only adapters, no joy. I uninstalled and reinstalled VB, upgraded to v5... and... no joy.

Hopefully the above steps help someone. For more details, go to the VB bug tracker.